Destination Discovery - Lilly's answer to Boehringer's Syrum?

Lilly launches online drug discovery game

Lilly has created an online board game in a bid to "share our passion for [the] modern medical process".

Players of the pharma company's new Destination Discovery game journey along the research and development process answering trivia questions as they go.

Its concept of bringing a new medicine through the research and development process is not a million miles from that of Syrum, the Facebook game Boehringer Ingelheim launched with much fanfare in September 2012.

The thinking behind Lilly's game is to highlight the pharma industry's research and regulatory efforts, explained Amy O'Connor, senior director - digital and social media communications.

She writes on the company's LillyPad blog: "The reward of developing life-changing treatments helps drive an industry committed to improving global health."

Destination Discovery hinges on traditional board game mechanics (“Roll the dice to move forward”), with a focus on answering correctly pharma research trivia.

Its has a grown-up, public policy message about the inherent difficulty of research, regulatory restrictions and access to medicines issues, but it looks like it's designed to appeal to school children - who are unlikely to find it all that fun.

Destination Discovery may help raise awareness of the industry's work - and it's certainly closely aligned with Lilly's messaging on the subject - but it's difficult to see how it's going to attract much of an audience.